Sufian Tayeh

Sufian Tayeh
سفيان تايه
Born	Sufian Abdurrahman Osman Tayeh (1971-08-20)20 August 1971 Jabalia Camp, Gaza Strip
Died	2 December 2023(2023-12-02) (aged 52) Gaza Strip
Cause of death	Airstrike
Other names	Abu Osama
Education	UNRWA school
Alma mater	Islamic University of Gaza
Occupation(s)	Lecturer, university professor and physicist, university president
Employer	Islamic University of Gaza
Scientific career
Fields	Physics and applied mathematics

Sufian Tayeh (Arabic: سفيان تايه, romanized: Sufyān Tāyah; 20 August 1971 – 2 December 2023), often spelled Sofyan Taya and also known as Abu Osama, was a Palestinian scientist who served as president of the Islamic University of Gaza from August 2023 until his death in December 2023.

Early life and education

Sufian Tayeh was born in 1971 in Jabalia Camp of northern Gaza. He received his primary education in the UNRWA school in the camp. He obtained a Bachelor's degree in Physics from the Islamic University of Gaza in 1994 and in the same year he began working for the university.

Career

He was a leading researcher in physics and applied mathematics. Tayeh was winner of the Palestine Islamic Bank Award for Scientific Research for the years 2019 and 2020, recipient of the Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Young Arab Scientists and the Islamic University Award for Scientific Research for the year 2021.

Tayeh's research interests included optical waveguides, optical waveguide sensing, ellipsometry, dye-sensitized solar cells, and OLEDs. He was still research-active at the time of his death.

Death

He was killed in an airstrike by the IDF during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.